Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

[Gulf]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

About “smoking at startup”:
All things being considered: Chimney height, surrounding roof tops, trees, barometric pressure, and wind speed.

I have yet to fire up a WFO. But as far as fireplaces go, I was taught one thing. Heat the chimney first. My dad would always take a piece of burning "lightered wood" or in some cases a tightly crinkled and rolled newspaper and hold it up as high as possible in the fireplace until he thought there was a sufficient "draw", then and only then, would he light the kindling in the fireplace.

I have deviated from this teaching and smoked up the living room enough times to now believe that this is the way to start a fire.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

My father in law swore by that practice too.

I use a blast door to get my oven going, it makes very very little smoke doing it this way and the fire roars into life.

[Gulf]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

My father in law swore by that practice too.

I plan on using your "blast door" and damper in my oven, but I am sure that I will never be able to sway you about preheating a chimney due to your pre-existsing "paw-in-law syndrome"

[brickie in oz]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

"paw-in-law syndrome"

Funny.....

[Gulf]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

Seriously now, Ya'll just try it. It won't cost you nuthin. Well maybe 30 to 45 seconds of your time. Hold that flame up high and to the rear of your chimney/flu for about that same amount of time and then slowly lower the flame down and in towards your kindlng (bottom up, top down or what ever floats your boat for a starter pile). If you feel the wind in your face coming from your fireplace/oven entry before you start, you will feel the difference when the flu is drawing. That is the time to light your kindling.

NOTE: This technique did fail me one time on a windy/low barometric night, however. It was the first fire of the winter for our fireplace and I had started early that particular evening with several of my favorite "beverages" and had failed to take the cap off of my chimney. Damn! was she pissed

[lwood]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

Here is a pic of my flue. The light is not good but you can see the cap. Maybe I will take another pic this afternoon.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

I tried to enhance the picture in Photoshop but couldnt, a wider pic with the roof in it too please.

[lwood]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

A few more pics, even got out the telephoto. Still no light. on pic 023 you can see a faint line of the top of the flue under the cap. It looks to me, if I put a vertical guard (a peice of sheet-metal) on the windward side btw the cap and the top of the flue, it might help. Also raise the cap up...but how much?

[brickie in oz]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

The pics are all still to dark to really tell, but pic 1 shows that the flue is too low to the adjacent roof.

As a rule of thumb you need to be at least above the measurements in the pic.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

Also raise the cap up...but how much?

As much as you can, if you have a really big cap the rain wont get in and the wind will blow the smoke away, assuming you are above the down draft zone in the pic.

[lwood]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

Okay, been thinking about making it to the top of the ridge.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

Cool, keep us informed.

[mickyD]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

Gulf,

Tried your method of heating the flue before start up, only took about 30 seconds with a few pieces of scrunched up newspaper then started the main fire. There was no smoke coming out the front at all during start up. There was no wind that day though. Can?t wait to try it on a windy day.

Cheers,

Mick

[Gulf]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

Mick,
I thought of something else that might help. My experience with preheating chimneys is with fireplaces and it does work. In a fireplace you are preheating directly above the kindling which you are going to light. With an oven (which I have no experience to date) the interior arch is lower than the apex of the oven. On a very windy day after lighting the kindling in the oven you might want to return to the flu and keep a flame there a few more seconds until the oven fills up and starts wafting out of the interior arch. It should follow the draft created by the preheated air. That should do it.

I just remembered another time when this method failed me miserably, though:

Most chimneys that I was familiar with growing up did not have caps or spark arrestors. Every spring you were supposed to send the most expendable male child up on the roof to place an asbestos shingle (another story) and a couple of bricks to keep it in place. For some reason my dad always sent me Every fall that same child (if he did not slide off of the tin roof in the spring) was supposed to venture back up there and remove the shingle.

If for some unexplained reason the child (who forgot to place the asbestos shingle on the chimney in the spring told dad ?yes sir? when asked ?did you uncap the chimney??,) was not exactly truthful: There might be a chance that chimney sweeps (the avian kind) could nest up in that chimney over the summer.

Damn, those things can create a down draft that no amount of preheating can overcome

[mickyD]

Re: Flue has trouble drawing when it's windy.

Hey Gulf, great story. Thanks for the advice. I’ll give that a go as well although the fire up the flue trick seems to be working a treat.

Cheers,

Mick